


Fevers Aren't Pleasant Things

by Onehelluvapilot



Series: Febuwhump [11]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Caring Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Caring Merlin (Merlin), Elyan Lives (Merlin), Episode: s05e06 The Dark Tower, Fever, Fever Dreams, Flashbacks, Gen, Gwen Knows About Merlin's Magic (Merlin), Hallucinations, He isn't in this fic but he's alive damnit, Hurt Gwen (Merlin), Sick Character, Sick Gwen (Merlin), Trauma, post-episode
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-12 12:20:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29135448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Onehelluvapilot/pseuds/Onehelluvapilot
Summary: Gwen gets sick, and her fever causes hallucinations back to her time in the Dark Tower.
Relationships: Gwen & Merlin (Merlin), Gwen/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Series: Febuwhump [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2134998
Comments: 4
Kudos: 28





	Fevers Aren't Pleasant Things

**Author's Note:**

> Betaed by LiGi, all remaining mistakes are mine

Gwen sniffled, pulling the blanket further up over her head. She hated being sick. At least Merlin’s bed was comfortable. Although she easily could have stayed in her own royal quarters, she had insisted that she leave so she didn’t risk getting Arthur sick. She’d suggested that she go back home to her house in the lower town, but Merlin had quickly shot down that idea. It was an obvious security risk for one thing, even though Elyan had offered to go too, to protect her, but they also wouldn’t be able to look after her as well.

“I won’t put you out of your bed, Merlin,” she had tried to object, though it sounded rather pitiful since she was so stuffed up. 

“It’s no problem, honestly. I can just go sleep in your spot in Arthur’s bed,” he joked with a wink. That did get Gwen to smile; she was just as amused by the rumors about her husband sleeping with his manservant as they were, since she knew they had little basis in reality. She quickly learned that the servant actually ended up sleeping on a cot out in the main chamber, so that he could come check in on her frequently, and that Arthur had given him leave of his regular duties to do so. She was thankful for it when she started feeling worse, though she worried that with all her sneezing and coughing she would get him sick.

“I don’t get sick,” he reassured her as he sat beside her on the bed and rubbed her back as she struggled to keep down a cup of tea that he brought her. “Just lucky.” Normally he wasn’t so brazen in implying his magic to her, but it was just them, and they both knew that she had figured out his secret years ago and just politely not said anything about it. Now, she was halfway hoping that he would flat out offer to use a healing spell or something on her. She knew he could use them; after all, he’d saved her father with one all those years ago.

Gwen coughed, and her throat  _ ached _ . On top of that, she was feeling kind of woozy and had to lean back against the wall behind the bed to steady herself. Merlin confirmed her fever with a hand on her forehead.

“I’ll go make you something that can hopefully bring your temperature down,” Merlin suggested before leaving the room. She slipped back down into the bed and pulled up the blankets. Without him there, she lost track of time completely, and it could have been five minutes later or five hours when he returned. And he wasn’t the same when he did.

He laughed at her, a horrible mocking sound, making fun of her pain and her weakness and her trust in him as a friend and the notion that  _ anyone _ would ever care for her. And suddenly her brother was there too, bleeding out from the wound in his stomach from the flying sword, the injury he had just barely survived and screaming at her for it, at being too weak to resist the mandrake root. A pitiful older sister, who couldn’t even protect her baby brother who came to save her, who wouldn’t even comfort him as he was recovering because her brain had been addled by the hallucinations. She was back in the Dark Tower, the screams tearing at her ears and her aching throat not allowing her to apologize or even beg for forgiveness or mercy from Merlin’s laughter.

“Guinevere!” Someone shouted and shook her by the shoulders. She blinked to find Arthur leaning over her in the bed. Was he going to hurt her, or just mock her like the others? She knew, logically, she knew, that he would never hurt her, but she couldn’t stop being scared. In the Dark Tower, anything could happen. “Gwen, what’s wrong, why are you crying?” he asked, his tone so achingly gentle and scared  _ for her _ . He raised a hand to her cheek to wipe her tears away with his thumb.

“Merlin was… he was…” She could barely remember somehow, though it had been just a second ago…

“Merlin came and got me when he said you were crying and he couldn’t get you to calm down. Guinevere, please, do you know what happened?”

“N-no,” she whimpered. “N-not really.”

“Was it a nightmare?” Merlin asked from where he was standing in the doorway, looking over at them in concern. Gwen supposed that was the best word for it, so she nodded. She thought she had been awake though…

“Arthur, you should go…” she murmured. “The kingdom can’t have both you and me getting sick.”

“You’re more important to me than the kingdom,” Arthur said, kissing her brow. “Although, if you’re sure you’re okay, I should get back to the council meeting.”

“Merlin pulled you out of a council meeting?” Gwen demanded, turning to the servant. “He shouldn’t have…” This objection was perhaps less forceful than it might have been, since she was feeling dizzy and weak.

“I’m glad he did, and if you’re scared again, I’d want him to do the exact same thing.”

“I’ve got some herbs that can help her sleep soundly,” Merlin assured him. He offered Gwen a shaky smile. “We’ll be okay.”

“See to it that you are,” Arthur insisted, clapping his manservant on the shoulder as he passed him in a way that was definitely sort of a threat. When he had gone, the younger man came over to Gwen, and she couldn’t help flinching back from him a little.

“Sorry,” he said, even though it wasn’t his fault. “And I confess; it isn’t herbs that I have that can help with your nightmares.”

“What is it?” she asked, more wary of him because of her hallucinations than she would normally ever be.

“Jewelry?” He offered in more of a question. “I can put an enchantment on it like that bracelet Morgana had.” Gwen hesitated, but then nodded. He smiled and took a bracelet off his bedside table. “ **Gefultuma híe þæt heo onslæpe,** ” he whispered into it, and his normally bright blue eyes flashed gold. Guinevere should have been scared by this blatant show of power, but paradoxically, she wasn’t at all. It was actually comforting, somehow, to know she had a sorcerer looking after her. She raised her hand, which was shaking slightly, so Merlin could put the bracelet on her wrist, before lying back. “There. You shouldn’t have any more bad dreams.”

“Thank you Merlin,” she mumbled. “Would you…” she trailed off in embarrassment before finishing the question, but her friend, as always, seemed to know what she needed.

“Do you want me to stay with you?” he offered, taking her hand. She nodded. “Of course I will.” He used his magic to move a chair over to her bedside, and stayed with her until she fell back to sleep. This time, instead of a waking nightmare, she had peaceful dreams of blue butterflies. 

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos/Comments are always appreciated


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